EA82T Comp 75 120 85 120 after reseal

[soobscript]

Tested last night. That would be 120 psi for the driver's side #2-4, 75 for #1, and 85 for #3. Test was done with engine warm, no spark plugs, throttle open, using starter.

 

Oil was added to the low cylinders one at a time. Both went up to 95 psi for one test. I have no idea how much oil actually went into each cyl, but there was definitely more in #1 (also had the bigger increase from 75-95).

 

Rings? The car shakes side-to-side at idle (makes sense now). Idle is also low and erratic. Also uses more oil than I'd like. Other reasons for shaking could be coolant temp sensor not connected (corroded wire broke), junk mounts (motor and tranny), no emissions stuff connected, old plug wires. Other than that she runs like a champ, pulls hard, sees WOT and 6K rpms frequently. Just needs WOT to start because of the CTS.

 

History:

Before the head job: I drove it with a blown HG for 40K miles, who knows how long the previous owner did. Oil in coolant, 1 quart of oil lost every 300-500 miles (mostly burning I think), and coolant loss.

 

Just before the rebuild: coolant loss increased (summer-time); I take my eyes of gauges for 2 mins max during easy driving on the coolest recent day, look down, temp near max, oil pressure near zero. Stopped, cooled, re-started. Hard to start, then shaky low idle, temp good for 10 mins, then starts shooting up and engine starts steaming/smoking, dies at idle, nearly impossible to restart. Repeat 5x, tow home, rebuild. MAJOR overheat, heads cracked.

 

1988 RX, EA82T, 230K miles on block, 4K miles on headgasket job. Heads pressure checked, resurfaced, valve job, new OEM oil and water pumps, all new OEM seals, new Delta 260 cams, reman Mizpah HVLAs, new NGK plugs, new OEM cap & rotor, new Purolator PCV, new fuel filter, new hoses, everything super-cleaned before assembly, heads re-torqued. Block internals left alone except for oiling cyl walls, cleaning piston tops, cleaning crud from the bottom by oil pan.

 

Wow, that turned out kinda long. Sooo, is it my rings? HG?

[Subarutex]

Of all people, I would know this best.

 

Its your rings man. Sorry :-\

 

If your lucky... its just rings, and not cracked pistons too.

[calebz]

Could the T-belt be off a tooth?

[soobscript]

Could the T-belt be off a tooth?

No. Cams, belts, and everything else are dead on. I forgot to say that.

[Ross]

Of all people, I would know this best.

 

Its your rings man. Sorry :-\

 

If your lucky... its just rings, and not cracked pistons too.

 

 

Why would two sets of rings fail? I could understand it if it were 1 cylinder only, or all four, but two?

 

I notice that you didn't resurface the block deck..........could cause a prob with the HG if the previous leak had damaged the surface.

(i'm not saying you should have had the block re-surfaced - that would have been much more work with having to strip the bottom end down).

[Subarutex]

Why would two sets of rings fail? I could understand it if it were 1 cylinder only, or all four, but two?

 

I notice that you didn't resurface the block deck..........could cause a prob with the HG if the previous leak had damaged the surface.

(i'm not saying you should have had the block re-surfaced - that would have been much more work with having to strip the bottom end down).

 

Head Gaskets usually don't blow together, simultanously. One goes, then the other. Depending on the severity, it may drivable for some time, or it might not.

 

Now, if one side blew, but not bad enough to render the car undrivable, those 2 cylinders would be subject to different combustion properties than the other, non HG blown side.

[dxrflyboy]

If the engine was overheated enough to crack the heads, you could certainly have broken rings. I'm assuming you had one BHG and not two, in which case one cylinder bank would be overheating more severely than the other, causing ring breakage, which would explain one bank having lower compression.